Eternity & A Day (1998)
Picture:
C- Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Film: B-
Theo
Angelopoulos tries again ten years after Landscape In The Mist (reviewed
elsewhere on this site) to tell another story of children traveling the world
and how adults doing the same can be reduced (or enlightened) into the same
state. However, Eternity & A Day is just not quite as effective. A popular Greek writer (Bruno Ganz, who
excels when Wim Wenders is not around) knows his days are numbered from a
terminal disease and is hoping to finish off his life with one last great
day. This 130 minutes-long film takes
its time seeing how he intends to carry this out.
Ganz has
a way of making his character remain interesting and work throughout, which is
what the film needs, though Angelopoulos’ screenplay is very well thought
out. It too wants to be poetry and
succeeds surprisingly well. The film can
be as writerly, though the child analog with an effective young actor (8 years
old) has its limits. Also, the religious
angle only goes so far, but this is supposed to be an examination of soul and
spirit. He is enough of an auteur to
repeat himself without a problem, but the best way to put it is nothing new was
said on this plane. However, it is very
ambitious and that is a victory in itself.
The
letterboxed 1.66 X 1 image is shockingly poor for a recent filmed production,
with a very problematic transfer and it is down to what looks like a bad analog
transfer, which is why this is not anamorphically enhanced. Even having two cinematographers is no excuse
and an insult to two artists. The sound was
the advanced analog Dolby SR (Spectral Recording) system, but the Dolby Digital
2.0 Stereo here has barely any surrounds.
Extras include a 20+ minutes intro by Angelopoulos and film scholar
Andrew Horton, extensive text poetry, four trailers for other New Yorker DVDs
and a featurette on the director and an analysis
of a shot from the film. Not bad,
but the image quality gets in the way of what is achieved, but fans will sit
through it until an HD version arrives.
- Nicholas Sheffo
